Google to pay up to $500 to owners of Pixel 1 and Pixel 1 XL

Google has settled a lawsuit for an amount of $7.25 million and agreed to pay up to $500 to owners of Pixel 1 and Pixel 1 XL with faulty microphone unit manufactured before January 4, 2017.

Pranav Hegde

Google launched its first Pixel device in 2016. The smartphone was lauded for its camera unit and was even awarded as the best camera on a smartphone. The device, however, did come with some issues, one of which is a faulty microphone unit.

A class action lawsuit was filed against Google for launching faulty Pixel devices. The lawsuit stated that Google manufactured Pixel devices with a faulty microphone unit until January 4, 2017. Google had acknowledged the issue in March 2017, and soon, the lawsuit was filed against it.

The faulty microphone unit caused a problem for users while making calls or while using the voice assistant. Google stated that there was a small ‘hairline crack in the solder connection on the audio codec”, which resulted in a defective microphone unit.

Google has settled the lawsuit for an amount of $7.25 million and agreed to pay up to $500 to owners of Pixel 1 and Pixel 1 XL manufactured before January 4, 2017.

The settlement agreement states that the highest payout of $500 would be due to owners of Pixel 1 and Pixel 1 XL, who got a defective replacement device against their faulty original unit.

Owners with the original defective device would get up to $350, whereas users who fixed the problem through insurance can get their amount repaid. The lawsuit also stated the Pixel owners who did not complain or face any issue would be eligible for a $20 payout.

Although Google has agreed to settle, the next hearing of the lawsuit would take place on June 5.

Google was previously involved in a similar lawsuit wherein the company agreed to pay $9.75 million to Nexus 6P owners due to a bug that caused shutdowns and boot loops.